#villain reveal

[tadc-harlequin-au]

Celebratory 1k+ post! (+Official Reveal of "Him.")

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First of all, before I start, I would just like to thanks everyone from the bottom of my heart. I cannot begin to emphasize just how much it means to me that more than 1,000 of you decided that this blog was follow worthy.

The fact that so many people engage with this blog, whether asking a lore-related question to know more about the world of the AU, to joking around and making me laugh makes my heart swell with pride and joy.

This AU's purpose was not only to tell a story, but to also destress myself from my problems so I can keep my head on my shoulders and keep on living. So to know that many people found this passion project interesting enough, well... All I could really say is...

Thank you.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share an incredibly canon-divergent story that is so far removed from the original source, it may as well be considered as a standalone project.

Thank you for sparing a little bit of your time and attention (as well as a few braincells) to learn about the characters, the story, the history, and the world of it.

... And most of all, thank you for continuously saving me from the darkness that attempts to consume me everyday.

No one really knows what happens to me behind the screen, and I'd rather keep it that way because I don't wanna be such a downer. Even here, I want to keep things lighthearted so I won't be delving into that.

Besides that, there's unfortunately something I haven't been entirely honest with you guys. Everyone knows about the B.O.S.S. (B.loodthirsty, O.verburdened S.corned S.ouls) roster, and how they serve as the AU's antagonists, but there is a secret character who doesn't exactly fall into that category.

Rather, he's not just a normal boss antagonist. HE'S THE OVERARCHING VILLAIN OF THIS AU, and has been teased since WAYYYY back to the early poster of the Harlequin AU.

You may know this guy as "???" from the roster list, or "HIM" from the answered lore-related asks. Well, for the sake of a celebratory 1k post that won't provide much strain for me, I've decided to reveal who this is.

Now, without further ado, I'd like you all to meet-

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"The Patriarch of Puppets" - Official design reveal!

"Adorned in silver and reds, The Patriarch of Puppets (or simply, "The Patriarch") is an untouchable and powerful entity who constantly chases Pomni after she finishes a battle with a Boss."

No one knows what the fuck his problem is, But one thing is for sure: he first shows up after Pomni defeats the Skirmish General, and seems to like tormenting the Combat Harlequin by attempting to separate her soul from her heart and inflicting burning agony.

Pomni, in tandem, feels GREAT DREAD even at her first encounter with The Patriarch; she doesn't know why, but whenever he's in her general presence, her entire soul, AND her fight-or-flight instincts screams TWO THINGS: "DANGEROUS. RUN."

Pomni CANNOT fight him to save her life. Her sword hands starts to tremble and she can't move if she's around him for too long. She knows from the very beginning that this is a fight that she cannot win no matter what. He is the Hunter, and she is the Prize.

Bubble also seems to power off instantly and just crash to the ground with no warning, an immediate telling sign that he's already in the general vicinity. He seems to not care about the blimp in the slightest.

His classification is a King Harlequin; 1) a reference to "king-size", 2) a literal one of a kind Puppet, and 3) the tallest of Harlequins that no one even knew existed in the first place.

Just how tall exactly? Well...... here's the updated lineup.

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I hope that this is a fitting celebratory 1k treat for all you hungry lore eaters and Harlequin AU enjoyers!

[queermarsworld]

Moomins: The Turning of the Leaves pg. 13 of 31

Stuff’s about to get real.

Page 12

Page 14

Poor Snufkin is not in for a good time.

[mstornadox]

Me, figuring out who is the big bad of this season of Doctor Who:

No no no no, that was a terrible episode, do not bring them back. Ugh, now I’m going to have to rewatch it.

(I really wanted to use a gif of Dodger and Fagin exclaiming No at each other, but couldn’t find it)

[dahersgetontheclock]

Last Main chapter of Dasher's Nine to five arc one has been published on Ao3 today. We Are Very Proud to show you all what we have in store for the future but I think it's time for an interlude. https://archiveofourown.org/works/45508222/chapters/126734134

[echoeternally]

Happy Mar10 Day!!

Time for an update to ENY, and one that...doesn't...feature Mario. Oops. But hey, more Mario fanfic!

Let's bring back the excerpts for below, shall we...?

... ... ...

A blast erupted up ahead of the trio, and they gazed up to watch a heavy purple burst of energy fill the sky from Shooting Star Summit. Both sisters blinked and twisted to face Merlow, who stared wide-eyed at the explosion. He quickly lifted his hands and waved them about.

"Ok, that one definitely wasn't me!"

"Obviously, we're all here!"

"Come on, we need to get back!"

Darting up the trail, Merlee pointed ahead for any twists or turns that remained as the young Shamans raced home. Violet trees and indigo stones whipped past their sight as they charged up Star Hill for their summit. Merluvlee dashed up alongside Merlee, and they balanced the bag between them, while Merlow lifted his robes further away from the ground.

...

Rustling sounded from bushes ahead of the trio, and they all skidded to a halt. Plopping the back down and quickly rising, Merlee and Merluvlee lit their hands in magical dark glows, while Merlow narrowed his eyes doing the same.

A Goomba leapt from the bushes and the Shamans took a step back. He yelped and gawked as he stared the trio down. Merlow was the first to lower his arms, spotting a spiked helmet over the Goomba's head, and a hefty panic over his face.

"Wait a minute, that's…I think he was with Bowser?"

At his words, Merlee and Merluvlee dropped their arms, eyes widening.

"One of the missing servants?"

"Yes, Grandfather told us of them!"

"S-stay back!" Goomphen shuddered as he took a step away from them.

Each of the siblings lifted their arms, but the Goomba still trembled. Merluvlee lowered her arms gently.

"Please, calm down," she soothed. "We're sorry for pointing spells at you."

"You're m-m-monsters! All of you, m-monsters!"

"Hey, come on," piped up Merlee, dropping her arms. "It was an accident."

"Liars!" Goomphen snapped and his fearful eyes twitched into a glare. "Y-you won't get aw-away with all you've done!"

"But we haven't done anything?" Merlow stepped forward. "Is something—?"

"No, NO! Get away from me!"

Jolting from the spot near them, the Goomba scurried off, disappearing behind the trees and moving away from the summit. Merlow started after him, but both of his sisters grabbed him. He twisted back to them and pointed to where the Goomba went.

... ... ...

Ooh, is that a chase sequence to start? Mm...not quite.

To learn more, just click the link above! Or, if you're new to the story, feel free to start from the beginning! It's a long and drama filled fic about Bowser and Mario falling in love, and all of the chaos that erupts from there.

It's a lot, but pretty fun. Enjoy! And thank you for reading.

[notruevampire]

[sunderwight]

Bingqiu AU where Luo Binghe's the chosen village sacrifice to the evil deity who lives up the mountain.

Normally the village sends maidens, but they've more or less run out of expendable girls of the right age and, ahem, "virtues". So of course Luo Binghe's early life bad luck kicks in. In the wake of his mother's death there's no one to really care about what happens to him, he's fairly pretty, and the village leaders decide that if they dress him up like a girl the teenaged homeless kid should pass well enough. And hey, y'know, he's probably got a hard life ahead for him anyway -- dying in a brothel of some venereal disease or on the streets of exposure or starvation. At least as a sacrifice, everyone else gets to benefit from his loss! And the kid will get added to a shrine and be remembered as a hero! If anything, he should be happy about this!

Binghe is not happy about this.

But he's also a skinny underfed nobody who is easily overpowered, dressed up like a bride, and tied to a post. So. Not much he can do but wait for the evil deity to come and do whatever horrible thing he's gonna do to him.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan is pretty sure he's been isekai'd into the over-powered hero of some kind of supernatural adventure story? He's not totally sure because he doesn't recognize the setting, but the signs are there. He's got a shrine-like base of operations (though it seems to have become corrupted/ruined, probably he has to restore it somehow), he has a very resilient and handsome new body with spiritual energy of some kind flowing through him, and a very clearly magical sword. Plus lots of neat starter powers! Though it feels like he has other abilities that have been blocked somehow? Probably he has to level up in order to access them.

When he treks out of his "base" and finds what seems to be a distressed maiden, he takes it for his beginner hero mission. The girl claims that she's been doomed to be sacrificed to an evil god. That sounds a little above Shen Yuan's pay grade for dealing with, so he unties her and decides that they had better just get out of the whole region altogether. He already packed up anything useful from his base, anticipating he might get caught up in an adventure once he left, so they follow the river away from the settlement until they reach another one.

While they travel, Luo Binghe tells Shen Yuan about the cursed deity, Shen Qingqiu, who was cast out of the heavens for slaughtering one of his brethren and has apparently being do-who-knows what to maidens from the local village in exchange for his "protection" ever since. Sounds like a real asshole! And also mid-level boss type bad guy at least. Shen Yuan hopes he doesn't have to fight him, but he probably will.

Thank goodness he found Binghe, though! Clearly the helpful little sister type! He's definitely going to require her assistance if he's going to figure out how to navigate this world and level up his skills enough to take on a god.

[phoenixcatch7]

I'd love a sv fic where Sqq and/or sqh are on a truth serum/lowered inhibition/babble spell or something and it gets to the topic of divinity and sqh immediately starts ranting about how he created the world and is the father of everyone etc and Sqq is unknowingly providing proof to a shocked and confused crowd by immediately interrupting to argue every point like 'you can't call EVERYONE of every generation your child it sounds like incest at this point' or 'and it would have been much better if you'd listened when I told you about that plot hole but NOOOO and now we've got the most illogical demon realm border ever'.

The nail in the coffin is when someone asks and Sqq is like 'yeah it's how we met I told you we came from the same hometown' and Yqy takes it to mean their past lives in the upper realm because he knows exactly what hometown Sqq did or did not grow up in but they're being truthful and that's the only explanation.

Just the whiplash of everyone taking it lightheartedly for a seemingly mild issue - someone being tipsy at best - but those two are so repressed and gossiping to each other and it all comes out in one of those 'felt like a good idea at the time' situations that they're actually the god-creators of the world (well. No ones entirely sure what sqq's role was but he seemed to have a lot of input).

[eloquent-edits]

🗡️ “Do not stray far from me.”

I don’t want you to get hurt 🗡️ protective dialogue prompts

“What in the gods’ holy names was that?! I–We could’ve lost you.”

“At the party C sort of kept cornering me…” “What? Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?”

“Stay back.”

“Who did this to you? I just want to talk to them.” (that’s a LIE AND THEY KNOW IT)

“The idea of you getting hurt doesn’t sit well with me.”

“I don’t like the things they said about you. You’re nothing like what they think you are.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re okay.”

“My duty is to ensure your safety at all times, no matter the cost to my life.”

“If you dare lay a finger on their head, I will have yours served on a silver platter.”

“These walls are meant to protect you, the world out there is far too dangerous for someone like you.” (villain arc??? 👀)

“I’m right here. You’re safe.”

“Say my name and I will be there. I promise.” (thank you daredevil for inspiring this one)

“I’ll take a sword through the heart before they ever reach you.”

“I should’ve been there. This shouldn’t have happened to you.”

“Will you let me know when you’re back safely?”

“I will kill you and everyone you love if it’s the last thing I do.” “It’ll be the last thing you try.”

“You’re worth saving.”

“My house is a safe haven. Go there if you’re ever in danger and we will take care of you.”

“Get away from them!”

“You don’t need to protect me.” “I want to.”

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Liu Qingge comes back to find out that everyone believes Shen Qingqiu murdered him and he’s offended that anyone would think Shen Qingqiu could beat him in a fight. And, as Liu Qingge bitches people out for believing such a ridiculous tale, Shen Qingqiu is off to the side muttering about how he “could absolutely kill that brute if he wanted to.” Liu Qingge turns to him exasperated, grumpy, and annoyed and snaps, “You couldn’t even stop me from killing myself.”

[rarepears]

Back in the same vein of #shang qinghua is the grandpa friend among the Cang Qiong peak lords AU where Shang Qinghua is one of the oldest Qing peak lords and also nearly a couple centuries older than the youngest Qing generation disciples/peak lords (ahem, Shen Jiu and Liu Qingge)...

One day, the artifact peak lord presents a new artifact discovered from the dusty shelves of Cang Qiong and puts it on the table. It's used to identify parent-child relationships. Specifically, it identifies who, if any, in the room are the parents of the person holding the artifact. *Insert random reason why the artifact peak lord had to bring it out - maybe it's for a low stakes mission for some disciples to undertake but requires a peak lord to transport the artifact because it is rare, expensive, and delicate.*

The Cang Qiong peak lords pass it out, mostly out of curiosity. Or rather, a peak lord is curious about the artifact that they are allocating precious minutes to spend discussing during the monthly peak lord meeting, so he grabs the artifact to take a look. Plus he's bored, so there's that.

The artifact is round, pearl like, and quite pretty with that cat-eye sheen on it. He looks at it from this angle and that, but ultimately, the artifact doesn't react or respond. It's quite boring after 30 seconds of toying it around, so he puts it back.

Naturally, this becomes an invisible signal for the other peak lords to have their turn taking a look at the artifact and a number of peak lords reach out to grab it - but of course, Yue Qingyuan calls dibs first as the sect leader and therefore the highest ranked peak lord. He's not so much interested in the artifact, rather he's getting it to give to Shen Jiu.

Except... when he grabs it, a golden light immediately forms between him and Shang Qinghua... and the artifact is claiming that Shang Qinghua is his biological father.

Silence, and then shocked gasps erupt all around.

Someone immediately asks, "Is this malfunctioning?"

Shen Qingqiu goes to yank the pearl out of Yue Qingyuan's hands, but the moment he touches it, a golden light shines between him and Shang Qinghua.

By the end of this meeting, it's discovered that Shang Qinghua "fathered" most of the Qing generation peak lords; that Shang Qinghua, as is standard for An Ding peak disciples, went on many missions delivering goods to/from various merchants and encountered many sex pollen incidents as the mission leader was led by, at best, a senior disciple; and that Shang Qinghua solved those incidents the good old fashion way with some strangers (ahem, not fellow disciples because they bullied him).

Plus it's taken as fact that Shang Qinghua fathered those peak lords given that not all peak lords were his (as that would immediately be concluded as the artifact no longer properly working) especially when they interrogated Shang Qinghua so hard that they squeezed out from his mouth that he's managed to rizz up an extremely powerful influential demon ruler purely through acting pathetic. Somehow this weakling has the moves to seduce any and all, even the married and most beautiful.

---

(Only Shang Qinghua knows that it's only the peak lords that he actually gave a name to instead of leaving as namely NPCs in PIDW that are marked as his children.)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslighter? I hardly know her!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[bixels]

(Sunset!) Sunset!

Have you always been alone?

(Sunset!) Sunset!

Have you never loved again?

Some design sketches for Sunset, the Witch of Fire, the Flame of the West. A leaf in the wind, she travels from town to town with her trusty steed Shimmer, bringing trouble wherever they go.

[egophiliac]

my absolute delight at seeing that the riderboys DO in fact have special magical girl transformation sequences --

(now if they really wanted to commit they would go full sailor moon with the ribbons and bubbles and sparkles, hint hint toei)